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The Historical Jesus

Other Traditions

Intro

Alongside the main consensus from Biblical Scholars/Historians that Jesus was an eschatological preacher in the early first century AD who believed the Earth would end during his time (and therefore couldn't be the Muslim Jesus), there are many other of the most considered authentic teachings of Jesus that clash with Islam; in contrast with the Qur'anic principle of Messenger Uniformitarianism; where all messengers preach essentially the same thing with only minor variations.^[1]

cf. Quran 6:112, Quran 35:43, Quran 22:78.

Other than being explicitly told that messengers bring the same message from Allah, Durie (2018) notes the Qur'an repeatedly states that Muhammad was sent to confirm the revelations given to earlier messengers (Q2:91, 97; Q3:3, 50; Q5:48; Q12:111; Q16:43–44; Q35:31), just as each prophet before him confirmed those who came earlier. For example, Jesus (ʿĪsa) confirmed the Torah of Moses (Mūsa) (Q5:46), and the Qurʾan confirms the scriptures revealed to previous prophets (Q4:47). In this way, Muhammad’s role continues the same pattern of reaffirming earlier divine messages rather than introducing a completely new one.^[2]

The large differences between the New Testament / Gospels (and by extension the Christian Jesus), and the Muslim Jesus, are clear to anyone who has read both the Qur'an and NT; with the Qur'an having it's own spin on him and taking many aspects from apocrypha considered inauthentic by NT scholars,^[3] and later Christian thought/writings, and have lead to many Muslims arguing for biblical corruption based on textual and theological grounds [though textual don't affect most early & authentic traditions] in general, which is a disputed idea in traditional Islamic thought (cite - Reynolds article. See also: Corruption of Previous Scriptures & Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars:Corruption of Previous Scriptures)

Historians have searched for a summary of some of the most likely authentic traditions from Biblical historians (using historical-critical methods not Christian or Muslim theologians - more likely to be true and not taken from bias or proving or disproving Islam but historical context, widespread across sources, early - cite Allison explanation - Why - different to time and context, unlikely to be fabricated later by Christians, across all early sources etc.) are shown here as an example of the clashes. [Point: not arguing against Christian Jesus - but secular historians one]

Examples

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[ highlight those being spoken about in italics or bold]

Professor Allison (2009) notes that Jesus' banning divorce was an important teaching that stood out to early Christians, Luke 16:18, 1 Corinthians 7:10-16, Mark 10:2-9, in contrast to Judaism (Deuteronomy 24:1-4) and Islam e.g. Quran 2:228-232, Q65:1-7, (Q4:19 https://quranx.com/hadiths/4.19 & Q4:35), Q33:49 )

He notes that Jesus commanded loving and doing good to enemies in Matt. 5:38-48; Luke 6:27-36, while the Qur'an generally advises treating other Muslims well, it specifically states not to be merciful to unbelievers Q48:29. [ For more examples of not being merciful to unbelievers, let alone 'enemies' see: https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur%27an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Non-Muslims & https://wikiislam.net/wiki/Kafir_(Infidel)#Guidelines_on_how_to_deal_with_disbelievers Quran 48:29 ]

• Jesus enjoined unlimited forgiveness: Matt. 18:21-22; Luke 17:3-4. However the Qur'an distinctly says there is no forgiveness for anyone committing shirk (ascribing partners to God) in Quran 4:48 and Quran 4:116.

He notes Jesus called some to a life without marriage: Matt. 19:11-12, while the Qur'an promotes it as a virtue encouraging those to do so.

Marriage is a virtue https://www.getquranic.com/marriage-in-islam-8-quranic-verses-about-marriage/

And criticizes monasticism/monks, with celibacy and no marriage being a key aspect^[4] in general

Criticism of monasticism (https://www.britannica.com/topic/monasticism) - lack of marriage for monks (though admittedly also praises monks in general elsewhere pp130-132)^[5]

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Father-son relationship

Allison (2009) notes that Jesus must have repeatedly referred to God as 'father', a way also used by many ancient Jews to describe their relationship to god, also found in the old testament (cite) and Talmudic writings with paternal imagery. ^[6][7]

Slave-master relationship

However this father-son Hebrew metaphorical relationship Jesus used is distinctly abandoned, instead using other things (other metaphors) in Arab society to describe the relationship between humans and God, such as a slave-master relationship,^[8] a Patron - Protege (needs explanation of what this is) ^[9]. with Muhammad having strongly condemned the idea that God could have offspring against the unscripted pagans (mushrikun) taking angels as daughters of god early on chronologically of the Qur'an's first recitations, then later against God having a son against Jesus being the son of God.^[10]

Slave analogy Dure Print edition pp108 - 110 summary:^[11] Before its theological use, the Arabic root sh-r-k referred to ordinary partnership or shared ownership. The Qurʾan draws on this everyday meaning to illustrate why associating partners with God is impossible. Using the metaphor of a master and a slave, the Qurʾan argues that just as a slave with multiple masters suffers confusion and conflict, attributing partners to God creates an impossible and chaotic situation. This logic appears in verses such as Q39:29 and others that argue multiple gods would lead to conflict and the ruin of creation (Q23:91; Q21:22).^[11]

The Qurʾan’s use of the slave-master metaphor differs from Jesus’ teaching in the New Testament. Whereas Jesus uses it to highlight divided human devotion, the Qurʾan uses it to assert the logical impossibility of multiple divine authorities.^[11]

Shirk encompasses various forms of error: attributing partners or helpers to God, believing He needs allies, or seeking aid from others besides Him. The Qurʾan also explores God’s unity through three social analogies relevant to Arabian society: patron–protégé relationships, alliances of mutual help, and relationships of equal or unequal status.^[11]

Patron–protégé relationships

The Qur'an distinctly ignores the father-son relationship (and theology) metaphor by using another term that is harder to translate

Explanation of what this is Durie pp.110-111:^[12] The Qurʾan uses terms from the root w-l-y to describe patron–protégé relationships, alliances, and guardianship. The key term walī can mean ally, protector, guardian, or patron, and may indicate either symmetrical alliances or asymmetrical power relationships.^[12][13]

In pre-Islamic Arab society, such patronage was essential for protection, as shown by the example of Muḥammad being safeguarded by his uncle Abū Ṭālib. Without a patron, a person was vulnerable.^[12] [in the sirah of Ibn Ishaq]

The Qurʾan emphasizes that God has no need of any patron and that humans should recognize God alone as their walī. Seeking any protector besides God is considered shirk. Believers may take other believers and the Prophet as allies (awliyāʾ) alongside God, but not in place of Him.^[12]

As the Muslim community developed, especially after what the passage calls the Eschatological Transition—the Qurʾan increasingly stressed exclusive allegiance to God. This served to detach believers from prior tribal or familial loyalties that could compromise their commitment to the faith community.^[12]

- and calls for help-

Unequal status vs Jesus' views on Wealth

Sinai - darajah passage

And inequality in general - inc. the afterlife

Punishment narratives

Punishment BEFORE the day of judgement

We are told the sole exception in history was the unnamed town^[14] of more than 100,000 people that the messenger Yūnus (Jonah) when the warning was heeded in full by the entire people, and therefore punishment averted (Quran 10:98, Quran 37:147-148) “no town believed . . . except the people of Yūnus”^[15]

How many a town defied the command of its Lord and His apostles, then We called it to a severe account and punished it with a dire punishment.  Q65:8

So it tasted the evil consequences of its conduct, and the outcome of its conduct was ruin. Q65:9

How many generations that had far more wealth and ostentation have We laid low before them! <https://quranx.com/19.74>

Say, ‘Whoever abides in error, the All-beneficent shall prolong his respite until they sight what they have been promised: either punishment, or the Hour.’ Then they will know whose position is worse, and whose host is weaker <https://quranx.com/19.75>

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Q34:16 - flood of the damn of Yemen / Saba', the people of Sheba E.g. ^[16] Quran 34:14-16

, Quran 65:8-9, Quran 19:74-75

Add: 34:15–21: The punishment of the people of Sheba, without explicit reference to a messenger. Sheba reference ^[17]

Surah 36

Similarly an unnamed town is sent three messengers in Quran 36:13-32, who's identities have differed in traditional Islamic scholarship,^[18] are rejected and so are killed with a cry/shout (ṣayḥatan) (Quran 36:29). ^[19]

Contradiction

The order in Surah 2 has the Jews struck by a lightening bolt after they worship the golden calf, who are then forgiven by Allah by being resurrected.

In Surah 4 they are struck before they worship the calf. 4:153 specifically says 'then' (thumma)

V2

Surah 4 (summarized version)

1) They ask Moses for a sign and are hit with a thunderbolt

2) They then take up the calf for worship

3) The mountain is raised above them

Surah 2

1) They worshiped the calf. And Moses tells them to slay the guilty among them.

2) They are hit by a thunderbolt - is it chronological?

3) ... a mountain is lifted above them

The Lote Tree of the utmost Boundary (Sid'rati al-Muntahā)

Lote tree's are a real type of tree (Ziziphus spina-christi) native to Arabia and the Middle East.^[20] Different to the tree of eternity/immortality (shajarati ul-khul'di) in paradise jannah, the Qur'an mentions The Lote Tree (sidr) of the utmost boundary (al-muntahā)^[21] near (but notably not in) the 'garden of abode', said to be 'covered' yaghshā by something unspecified in Q53:16, typically taken by exegetes to mean by angels, light and/or golden animals.^[22]

This furthest boundary/limit is said in the hadith, to place the cosmic tree in the sixth heaven, where even celestial creatures cannot go beyond as the limit of creation; said to be seen by Muhammad in his Night Journey (mi’rāj) on the Buraq (E.g. Sahih Muslim 1:329, Jami` at-Tirmidhi 5:44:3276, Sahih Bukhari 5:58:227 & Sunan an-Nasa'i 1:5:452), and by many Islamic exegetes.^[23]

This would align the cosmology of Islamic traditions supporting the idea that paradise (and therefore the garden of the abode) is in the seventh heaven,^[24] while some traditions support the idea that paradise is above the seventh heaven,^[25] both placing the tree relatively close to jannah. However others suggest that this specific garden of the abode (jannatu l-mawā) is a separate garden/paradise to the eternal one all righteous Muslims will eventually enter, being instead one where martyrs (those killed in war or for their religion) go before judgement day.^[26]

Either way there is no evidence of a celestial tree, which must be magic to survive outside of an Earthly plant ecosystem, but is rather an example of tree mythology.

(See also: https://sunnah.com/mishkat:5865 & https://sunnah.com/mishkat:5640, ) read; https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14 - exegetes also confirm this is where boundary is the boundary of the skies/heavens where things other than God cannot pass (at least until judgement day where paradise and hell can be entered).

AND Similarly seen next to the 4 main Near-East rivers (Nile, Euphratesm Tigres,) https://sunnah.com/bukhari:5610, which area said to flow from paradise: https://quranx.com/Hadith/Bukhari/USC-MSA/Volume-5/Book-58/Hadith-227/ )

cite: https://www.islamweb.net/en/fatwa/107126/the-location-of-paradise-now#:~:text=Paradise%20that%20Allaah%20promised%20for,are%20many%20texts%20proving%20this.

The utmost boundary at the end of t heavens confirmed by exegetes in https://quranx.com/tafsirs/53.14

" Jannat al-ma'va' literally means "the Jannat (Garden) that is to be an abode. " Hadrat Hasan Basri says that this is the same Jannat which the believers and righteous will be given in the Hereafter, and from this same verse he has argued that that Jannat is in the heavens. Qatadah says that this is the Jannat in which the souls of the martyrs are kept; it does not imply the Jannat that is to be given in the Hereafter. Ibn 'Abbas also says the same but adds that the Jannat to be granted to the believers in the Hereafter is not in the heavens but here on the earth.

Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature - Part 2

Following on from Part 1, this is Part 2 of Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature found in the Qur'an. This material, drawing heavily on rabbinical commentaries on the bible, and late Syriac Christian thought found in homilies, was created far later than the biblical cannon; no-where near the time of the events that occurred. This suggests the stories were transmitted in an oral millennia along with local Arabian traditions^[27] where biblical and much later Jewish and Christian stories could be commonly mixed without the new community realizing.

The story of Noah

The prophet Noah is portrayed extremely differently to the one in Genesis,^[28] taking on Jewish and Christian traditions, characteristics, as well as terms from late antique Judeo-Christian writings,^[29] molded to suit Muhammad's situation in line with other messengers in the Qur'an.^[30]

The preaching of Noah

Surah 71 consists entirely of the preaching of Noah and his supplications to Allah.

Reynolds remarks that "The Qur'ānic character of Noah is quite unlike that of the Noah in Genesis, who does not speak a word until after the flood." Citing the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a, he observes that "[his preaching] is also suggested by a passage in the Talmud:

"The righteous Noah rebuked them, urging, 'Repent; for if not, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring a deluge upon you and cause your bodies to float upon the water like gourds, as it is written, He is light [i.e., floats] upon the waters. Moreover, ye shall be taken as a curse for all future generations.' (b. Sanhedrin 108a)"

Reynolds further notes, "It is also prominent in the Syriac fathers, several of whom report that Noah preached to his people for a hundred years before God finally sent the flood." citing for example the Syriac authors Narsai, "On the Flood", 33, II. 227-30 and Jacob of Serugh, Homilies contre les juifs, 70, homily 2, II. 37-40.^[31]

The opponents reject Noah's preaching despite him doing so 'day and night' (Quran 71:5-6) in which they respond by putting their fingers in their ears Quran 71:7, on which Neuwirth (2024) notes that "the means of plugging one’s ears in order to shut oneself off from unpleasant news is also encountered in the Talmud (bKetubbot 5a)."^[32]

Noah's disbelieving wife

The Bible briefly mentions Noah's wife in one verse without further comment (Genesis 7:7), "And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood." Regarding the Quranic verse which speaks of her negatively, Reynolds briefly considers the possibility that the Quran has extended to their wives the parallelism between Noah (though not his wife) and Lot found in the New Testament (2 Peter 2), but then comments, "However, it is important to note that already in the pre-Islamic period certain groups had developed hostile legends about Noah's wife." He cites Epiphanius (d. 403 CE), Panarion 2:26, which relates the Gnostic belief that she was not allowed onto the ark, having burned it down three times before the flood.^[33]

Noah's flood waters overflowed from an oven

The Qur'anic version of the Noah's flood story describes the flood waters as overflowing from an oven. This element is not found even in more ancient versions of the story (Epic of Gilgamesh, Atra hasis, and Ziusudra).

Note that in his translation, Yusuf Ali mistranslates the Aramaic loan word for the oven (alttannooru ٱلتَّنُّورُ)^[34] as "fountains". The Arabic verb translated "gushed forth" (fara فَارَ) means overflowed or boiled in the context of water in a cooking pot^[35], as well as in the other verse where it is used, Quran 67:7. Here is Pickthall's more accurate translation:

At one time academic scholars thought this verse alluded to a Midrashic exegesis in which the flood waters were boiling hot (b. Sanhedrin 108b, Rosh Hashanah 12a:4). More recent scholarship, particularly by Olivier Mongellaz in 2024,^[36] has identified that these verses most likely reflect a late antique legend in which water gushing up through a bread oven (a large hole dug into the ground) was a sign warning Noah's family of the imminent flood. The interpretation as Noah's own oven is attributed to a number of early commentators (such as Ibn Abbas, Mujahid), while others understood it to be the area of land where the flood waters first rose. Qurtubi said: "The sayings of commentators appear to be different as to the meaning of tannur, but this, in reality, is not a difference. When water began to bulge out, it overflowed from the bread baking oven, and from out of the surface of the land". Significantly, Mongellaz has argued on literary grounds that a fragmentary Arabic text falsely attributed to Hippolytus of Rome, and which mentions the overflowing bread oven story, is independent of the Islamic tradition and was originally written in a very specific environment which has parallels with the context in which certain parts of the Quran were written.

Noah's ark left behind as a sign

Unlike the bible, which does not mention the ark as a sign for future generations, Neuwirth (2024) notes the salvation of Noah is made physically plausible to the listeners through the reference to the material verifiability of the ark, which could be taken from various late antique traditions, for example Flavius Josephus (b. 37AD) reports in the Jewish Antiquities (I 3.5 § 92) of the existence of the remains of Noah’s ark in Armenia (Clementz 1959: 22).^[37] She also notes that the appeal to the willingness of the listeners to be admonished by the sign (āya) of Noah’s ark is also reminiscent of the Talmudic story (bSanhedrin 96a) of the death of Sennacherib, who was led to a fateful decision by seeing the remains of Noah’s ark.^[37]

Moses and Pharaoh

Alongside the biblical account of Moses and the Pharoah, there are some key aspects that match Jewish Rabbinic and Christian non-biblical traditions. Even the place where Moses communicates with God in the story of the burning bush, the word used ṭuwan in e.g. Quran 20:12 (for the folded land, implying double the holiness)^[38] does not have a parallel in the bible,^[39] but does in other Judeo-Christian (later) works.^[40] And the idea of eschatology in Moses's story such as Quran 20:15, with reward in the afterlife being mentioned, is not contained in the biblical story of Moses, Neuwirth (2024) notes moves the story into a late antiquity interpretation.^[41] Key details in the stories include:

The prophecy of baby Moses

Alongside the scene of Exodus 1:8-2:10 where the Hebrews in Egyptian bondage are told to kill all male babies to control the growing Israelite population, where Moses's mother places his basket in the Nile to escape; Neuwirth (2024) citing Speyer, notes that the prophecy to Moses’s mother that an enemy—of Moses as well as of God himself—would take him in reflects a Midrashic interpretation of Exodus Rabba (1:31: “So the daughter of Pharaoh raised the daughter, who was once to take revenge on her father”). The event is explicitly based on a divine intention, namely, to make Moses his chosen one.^[42]

And similarly the next verse unlike the bible focuses on the emotional impact of the event on Moses’s mother, Neuwirth notes is comparable to Midrash Exodus Rabba 1:25.^[43] Moses's salvation from persecution after manslaughter is commemorated with similar consideration of Moses’s mental condition.^[44]

Moses not suckled by Egyptians

Reynolds comments, "On this passage cf. Exodus 2:7-9. The Qurʾān's declaration (v. 12) 'We had forbidden him to be suckled by any nurse' (v. 12) reflects a tradition in the Babylonian Talmud that Moses (from whose mouth would come forth the word of God) refused the impure breasts of the Egyptian women:

Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a nurse of the Hebrew women? Why just 'of the Hebrew women'? - It teaches that they handed about to all the Egyptian women but he would not suck. He said: Shall a mouth which will speak with [God] suck what is unclean! (b. Sotah 12b)"^[45]

Moses's speech impediment

Moses has some kind of speech impediment when going to speak to Pharaoh in the Qurʾān.

Biblical Scholar James Kugel (1997)^[46] notes that later Jewish and Christian commentators found it necessary to explain Moses's statement in the Old Testament “Oh my Lord, I am not a man of words … but I am heavy of speech and heavy of tongue” (Exodus 4:10), as he was believed to be a highly educated man who had been supposedly been schooled in every branch of wisdom, including eloquence.

He notes "it occurred to interpreters that Moses might have been referring here not to any lacuna in his education, but to an actual speech defect, some physical deformity of his mouth or tongue that prevented him from speaking in the usual fashion." We see this in:^[47]

"I am not by nature eloquent; my tongue with difficulty speaks, I stammer, so that I cannot speak before the king." —Ezekiel the Tragedian, Exaggē 113– 115 (3rd-2nd century BCE)

He [Moses] pleased his parents by his beauty, but grieved them by his speech impediment. —Ephraem, Commentary on Exodus 2: 4 (d. 373 AD)

Others even added stories on how he might have acquired that deformity, such as Josephus in Jewish Antiquities 2: 232– 236 (published ~93/94 AD), connecting their explanation of Moses’ speech problems to the tradition of Pharaoh’s wise men and their warnings about a boy that might grow up and save Israel.^[48]

Pharaohs questions

Neuwirth (2024) comments that the list of further detailed questions to Moses in Surah 26 'The Poets' / al-shuʿarāʾ (i.e. in Quran 26:22-29), citing Speyer, reflect a more detailed episode from Midrash Exodus Rabba 5:18, which also starts from Pharaoh’s self-praise as God.^[49]

The Drowning of Pharaoh

Reynolds comments, "The question of Pharaoh's survival appears in an opinion found in the (late fourth century AD) Mekilta de-Rabbi Ishmael (cr. Gavin McDowell):

"And the waters returned and covered the chariot etc. [Exo 14:27]. Even Pharaoh, according to the words of R. Judah, as it is said, 'The chariots of Pharaoh and his force, etc.' [Exo 15:4]. R. Nehimiah says: Except for Pharaoh. About him it says, 'However, for this purpose I have let you live' [Exo 9:16]. Others say that in the end Pharaoh went down and drowned, as it is said, 'Then went the horse of Pharaoh, etc.' [Exo 15:19]. (Beshallah 7)"^[50]

Arguments for resurrection

Reynolds (2020) notes the repeated argument that God can resurrect the dead using the analogy that he can bring life back to barren (or dead) land may be connected to a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew, for example, in b. Shabbat 88b.^[51]

Cf: Quran 16:65, Quran 43:11, Quran 50:6-11, Quran 57:17

Late antique Christian Martyrdom

Durie (2018) notes the violence of the Qur'an shares more commonality with contemporary late antique religious (primarily Christian) violence and warfare rather than being directly biblically based.^[52]

Textual overlap

Covering the continuity and similarities between late antique religious violence & warfare and the Qur'an (and other Islamic traditions) is too big a topic to cover here; perhaps the most in-depth academic work looking at the continuity between this and Islam is Thomas Sizgorich's Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity: Militant Devotion in Christianity and Islam, however Sinai (2017) notes alongside similar ideas and theology, there are some direct textual references.

Martyrs sidestep judgement day

After death, humans are typically said to spend their time in an intermediate state known to traditional Islamic scholars as the barzakh while they wait.^[53] However, as in the above verses, one exception to this rule is Martyrs being with God straight away rather than being judged at judgment day, a non-biblical idea having parallels with late antique Christian thought.

Sinai (2017) similarly notes strong ideological parallels a 6th century hagiographical text (the Panegyric on Macarius, Bishop of Tkow by Pseudo-Dioscorus of Alexandria) of a 5th-century martyr, Egyptian Bishop Macarius of Tkow who was martyred for opposing the council of Chalcedon. Citing Michael Gaddis's summary of the document, ‘He was both willing to die for his faith, and willing to kill for it.’ he notes the same idea in Quran 9:111 … they fight in the way of Allah, kill, and are killed.. ^[54] As well as citing English historian of the Byzantine Empire James Howard-Johnston "..James Howard-Johnston draws attention to a passage in the Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor (d. 818), which reports that at about the same time when the Qur’an promised those ‘killed in the path of God’ immediate entry to paradise, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius similarly announced that those fighting the Sasanians would be recompensed with eternal life. In Heraclius’s address as reported by Theophanes Confessor, we find some of the same general ingredients that are noticeable in Qur’anic calls to militancy…"^[55] He notes these similarities are likely caused by being on the fringes of the Roman empire.^[56]

Martyrdom wipes away other sins and is privileged above other acts from believers

Martyrdom in the Torah and Gospels

Muslims who fight are promised paradise, which the Qur'an claims is also a promise in the Torah and Gospel.

Nickel (2020)^[57] and Reynolds (2018) however notes that this is not found there:

While his commentary on 2:154 (pp. 76) once again highlights the Syriac parallel:

Further Martyrdom Influence

Neuwirth (2024) also notes the influence of Christian martyrdom stories on the sudden conversion and prayers/asking for forgiveness to God of Pharaoh's magician's, who are originally opponents of Moses until he shows them proof of his prophecy via a miracle in the face of a sudden and violent death as threatened by the arrogant ruler (e.g. in Quran 26:50-51 and Quran 20:71-73).^[58] Both Jewish and Christian traditions present individual “anti-Moses” sorcerers named Jannes and Jambres, who continue to appear in later interpretations; citing Nora Schmid, she notes that, although there is no explicit textual reference and the magicians are typically depicted in a negative light, they came to be associated with penance and martyrdom in Christian tradition - in the Qurʾan, this idea is developed further: the forgiveness that Jannes and Jambres either did not receive or only partially received in earlier sources is ultimately granted.^[59]

Expansions on the afterlife

Reynolds (2020) notes the Qur’ans provides vivid depictions of hell are highly unlike the New Testament, where Jesus refers to afterlife punishment mostly allusively. The closest the Gospels describe hell is through the few images of “fire,” “wailing,” and “gnashing of teeth.”, for example in Matthew’s Parable of the Weeds, Jesus explains that at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send his angels that will cast evildoers into a fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:40–42).^[60] He notes the much more constant an vivid Qur'anic descriptions far better match later Christian works that expanded the descriptions to be more gruesome, in order to scare the reader/audience.^[61]

Sinai (2017) in his paper titled "The Eschatological Kerygma of the Early Qur’an" notes many overlap with Syriac Homilies on the afterlife as well as other apocalyptic ideas and terminology.^[62]

Souls are taken away at night

The Qur'an (and traditional Islamic exegetes)^[63] state that the soul is taken away by Allah during the night.

Tesei (2016) notes this idea may mimic a late antique Syriac Christian parallel in the poetical language used by Ephrem, who in the Nisibene hymns (7:15) mentions sleep resembles death, and other Christian writers (such as Babai) wrote about sleep metaphorically Jesus's death and waking up like the resurrection;^[64] with this idea taken literally by Muhammad.

Arguments for resurrection

Reynolds (2020) notes the repeated argument that God can resurrect the dead using the analogy that he can bring life back to barren (or dead) land may be connected to a Jewish tradition that God will resurrect the dead with dew, for example, in b. Shabbat 88b.^[51]

Cf: Quran 16:65, Quran 43:11, Quran 50:6-11, Quran 57:17

See Also

• Pre-Islamic Arab Religion in Islam

• Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature - Part 1
• Historical Errors in the Quran

References